#iron butterfly

[pop-art-sixties-seventies]

Iron Butterfly, 1968

[branchflowercuriosa]

Iron Butterfly in Santa Rosa, April 1968 concert poster

[book--brackets]

Dragonkeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul (2004-2008)

When Kale, a slave girl, finds a dragon egg, she is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. But on her way to The Hall, where she was to be trained, Kale runs into danger. Rescued by a small band of Paladin's servants, Kale is turned from her destination. 

Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find the Wizard Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg--whose true value they have not begun to suspect.

Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher (2017-2018)

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It's not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher's new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager's city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (1988-1989)

Paksenarrion — Paks for short — is somebody special. She knows it, even if nobody else does yet. No way will she follow her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road. She's off to join the army, even if it means she can never see her family again.

And so her adventure begins... the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

Here is her tale as she lived it.

Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen (2006-2016)

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey (2003-2006)

The first book in this thrilling new series introduces us to a young slave who dreams of becoming a jouster-one of the few warriors who can actually ride a flying dragon. And so, in secret, he begins to raise his own dragon...

Frontier Magic by Patricia C. Wrede (2009-2012)

Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (2017)

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border ― unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and ― best of all as far as Elliot is concerned ― mermaids.  "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. In Other Lands is the exhilarating new book from beloved and bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world ― even if it means giving up your phone.

Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn (2012-2014)

Imprisoned, starved and left with no memories, Thalia awakens to find herself at the mercy of an evil cult known as the Septori. Their leader has chosen Thalia as the test subject for a torture device of untold power, designed to change and twist her into something that is neither human nor Denai.

Escaping, Thalia finds an unwilling warrior to protect her and an unlikely Denai to befriend her. After finding a home at the Citadel as a servant, Thalia’s worst nightmare comes to life and she begins to show signs of power. Scared and unable to control her gifts, she tries to hide her past to fit in among the Denai. But the Septori want their latest test subject back and will stop at nothing to retrieve her, dead or alive.

Old Magic by Marianna Curley (2000)

Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing, but Kate Warren doesn’t know why.

Jarrod is the clumsy new boy at school that Kate can’t take her eyes off, and it’s not just because he has amazing eyes, but because she senses something different about him, and when he inadvertently blows up the classroom, she knows exactly what it is. He has powers like her, except he doesn’t know it and Kate sets out to show him. On their journey of discovery Kate learns Jarrod has an ancient curse on his family that will keep hurting his little brother and parents if they don’t do something to remove it.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (1988)

Successful screenwriter Phil Hastings decides to move his family from sunny California to a ramshackle farmhouse in New York State. The idea is to take some time out, relax and pick up the threads of his career as a novelist. Good plan, bad choice. The place they choose is surrounded by ancient woodland. The house they choose is the centrepoint of a centuries-old evil intent on making its presence felt to intruders.

[undergroundrockpress]

Poster by James Render, 1968.

[jt1674]

[oldmanpeace]

[oldshowbiz]

1969.

[nocturna7]

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (2006 Remaster Full-Length)

[affiches-concerts]

Velvet Underground, Iron Butterfly, 1968. Designed by Bob Schnepf.

[kidpix-album-covers]

Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)

(requested by Instagram user insighttout)

[ruinedholograms]

(1986)

[chrisgoesrock]

Iron Butterfly - Advertise poster March 1969

[rolandrockover]

Do You Wanna Touch Me Now

What can you call something like this? A review of a Kiss song that was not recorded to completion and never officially released? If you ask me Phantom Entry doesn't sound too bad, and also kind of Kiss-like.

So, who among us Kissians doesn't inevitably think of the often mentioned Do You Wanna Touch Me Now, the only leftover from the Revenge (1992) sessions, which Paul had written with this Skid Row guy, but ultimately didn't make it onto the album. For a long time, even a very long time if you want to do yourself the displeasure of measuring your life in time, this one was considered pretty much a Holy Grail among ever-searching fans.

Until it was leaked on a mainstream platform, just like that. Out of the blue. After 30 years. (0) So, it's precisely this tiny blip that makes our little head trip here possible in the first place, so shhh, all this is top secret, of course. Let us therefore try to be gratefully and humbly accept what this may offer us.

Firstly, we have the long-range main riff that also opens the song, which can best be described as massive and anything but bad. If Take Me's (1976) chorus riff comes to mind, that would be pretty close. If you were to dance a few steps further and stop at the end with spread legs in a self-assured pose, then we would even have a bull's eye. On top of that, you get a Mr. Speed-style lick as a sort of calling card (1). This works in much the same way as the Roadrunner in the cartoons likes to stick out his tongue before he meeps and blasts off at the speed of light.

Anyway, to my ears it seems as if, in the overall context of the song's structure, it harbors a certain short-sighted, extroverted attitude that is unwilling to take the final step and whose own unrequited expectations unfortunately become its undoing. In simple terms, it promises more than it means to deliver (2).

Kind of like a long-armed boxer with a handful of excellent swinging hooks in his repetoire, with which he is able to send his opponent to the mat very safely and quickly, only to make the fatal mistake of letting go of his opponent too early and using his additional light-footed skills just to put on a little extra show for the audience (and himself), which unfortunately has little to do with the fight. And with that, I've basically already given away the verses and the bridges.

And these sound like a continuously alternating vivid, but still somewhat unsatisfying mixture of The Elder's (1981) The Oath (3), Mr. Blackwell (4), and now dear people fasten your seatbelts, Welcome to the Jungle (1987) respectively its main riff. Which should come as no surprise once you consider that in 1991 Guns N' Roses were probably the biggest rock band on this planet alongside Metallica (5).

And so it goes back and forth until you eventually reach the mid-part section, which is not much more than a big brake pad, led by Detroit Rock City's (1976) cinematic widescreen riffs, those that follow its super iconic pulsating intro, and to which you literally have no choice but to imagine Paul leisurely and majestically swinging his arm out wide. Still, you're not supposed to enjoy it to the full, because after just one run-through, the fun is over again and it moves like a souped-up tractor at adle in the direction of Black Sabbath and Iron Butterfly. This is noticeable in a passage that sounds as if somewhere the beginning of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) was stuck in a loop. On steroids, of course.

And somewhere in between a guitar solo must have been envisioned, although unfortunately it never materialized. Which is regrettable, but not necessarily essential for the sake of this cause.

But hey, since when can beggars be choosers?

Side Note:

(0) Hardcore Insiders not included, which in turn should include myself.

(1) And from the first refrain even a riff appendage in the guise of Plaster Caster's (1977) bridge melody, as well as another old buddy, this time from the future, who can be found on Sonic Boom from 2009 and beyond (which we can talk about another time).

(2) So much for the gratitude.

(3) I (1981) would also fit the bill, but The Oath even more so. Just think of its characteristic opening.

(4) That AC/DC Back in Black thing we already talked about here.

(5) On the other hand, I wouldn't necessarily accuse them of intent.

And no, Do Yo Wanna Touch Me Now is not a link, just a photo. All other links are real, by the way, and highlighted:

Do You Wanna Touch Me Now (1991/92)

Take Me (1976)

Mr. Blackwell (1981)

The Oath (1981)

Welcome to the Jungle (1987)

Plaster Caster (1977)

Detroit Rock City (1976)

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)

[musickickztoo]

RIP Doug Ingle

September 9, 1945 – May 24, 2024

[scholarofgloom]

[boxwright]

Iron Butterfly - Doug Ingle